(My full name’s Ed Kennedy. I’m nineteen. I’m an underage cabdriver. I’m typical of many of the young men you see in this suburban outpost of the city—not a whole lot of prospects or possibility. That aside, I read more books than I should, and I’m decidedly crap at sex and doing my taxes. Nice to meet you.)
Don’t you love books where the narrator provides pertinent information about himself right up front with no frills? Well, it’s one way of doing things, anyway. Doesn’t work in all cases, but when you’ve got a basically purposeless, aimless semi-slacker writing his story, one shouldn’t expect a whole bunch of that subtle “show, don’t tell” stuff. For those readers who show a preference for the “tell, don’t show” type of writing—and there’s nothing innately wrong with it—this book is for you. The first person narrator is not technically a writer—thought that statement will prove more complicated as the story unfurls—so his more prosaic, down-to-earth writing style fits. As for the parenthetical structure of delivering this information, yes, it is in the book and is part of a direct quote. But that doesn’t mean it is arty; it just so happens that this information is being delivered right in the middle of the description of a bank robbery taking place around him.
Outside, the gunman stops and tries to work out which key opens the car. That’s when we all crack up laughing at the incompetence of him.
He eventually gets in and tries to start the car countless times, but it never kicks over.
Then.
For some reason I’ll never understand.
I run out, picking up the gun along the way. When I cross the road, I lock eyes with the gunman. He attempts to get out of the car, but it’s too late now for that.
This is the moment in which Ed Kennedy’s life begins to change. That phrase there in the middle (and, yes, this is how the text appears on the actual printed page) about doing it for a reason he’ll never understand…don’t you believe it. He doesn’t understand it at the time, but the end everything becomes clear. Well, sort of. Not really everything, but enough becomes clear to make it clear that Ed does come to much greater understanding of his motivation. It is not what he is expecting nor, very likely, what most readers will be expecting, either.
1. At nineteen, Bob Dylan was a seasoned performer in Greenwich Village, New York.
2. Salvador Dalí had already produced several outstanding artworks of paint and rebellion by the time he was nineteen.
3. Joan of Arc was the most wanted woman in the world at nineteen, having created a revolution.
Then there’s Ed Kennedy, also nineteen….
Ed is in desperate need of a life-altering moment like that which occurs when he for reasons he can’t figure out at the time decides to make that decision to run and that decision to pick up the bank robber’s dropped weapon. Well, he is only nineteen, so it is not really desperate, but he makes it seem so by doing something one should never do: compare their accomplishments to the accomplishments of others at a young age. Dylan went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for his lyrics to his songs. Dali is irrefutably one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, perhaps of all time. Joan of Arc was quite likely suffering from a severe mental disorder. So you can see the problem there. And yet, just as it is true that comparing himself to some very special nineteen-year-old figures in history has driven Ed to despondency, so has it driven him to realize something has to change. And change is exactly happens in Ed’s life.
The Suitcase
Cat Ballou
Roman Holiday
The moment with the gun is the moment that Ed’s life begins to change forever, but the real agency of change comes in the form of playing cards. The first is an Ace of Diamonds on which is written three addresses and a time of day. Then comes the Ace of Space on which is written simply a cryptic message about saying a prayer. The Ace of Spades sports the name of authors Graham Greene, Morris West and Sylvia Plath. There is only one Ace left in the deck, right, and when it arrives it contains the names of the three movies listed above. Further cementing the probability that the Aces—which have led him (spoiler free zone ahead) to find a purpose life—is going to be the final delivery is the three each seem to connect to one of his three closest friends: Ritchie Sanchez, Marv and Audrey.
